18 February 2009

Youth Worldwide Join in Call to Stop Use of Child Soldiers

Thousands of “red hands” presented to U.N. secretary-general

Red Hands posters by students in California

By Jane Morse
Staff Writer

Washington — Young people from around the world on February 12 presented U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with thousands of symbolic “red hands” to draw attention to the plight of child soldiers.

In remarks addressed to youth activists at the event at U.N. headquarters in New York, the secretary-general said the use of child soldiers is “one of the most appalling human rights abuses in the world today,” describing the practice as a violation of international law and the most basic standards of human decency.

“The entire United Nations system and I are determined to stamp out such abuse,” he said.

According to the nongovernmental group Human Rights Watch, which helped coordinate this year’s Red Hand Day, youth from 101 countries collected more than 250,000 red handprints — some on individual pieces of paper; others on banners — inscribed with personal messages to call for an end to the use of child soldiers.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, a nonprofit group working to stop the recruitment of children in war, adopted the red hand symbol in 1998 as part of its worldwide campaign against the use of child soldiers.

Red Hand Day commemorates February 12, 2002, when the U.N. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child came into force. This optional protocol prohibits the forced recruitment or use of children under the age of 18 in armed conflict.  Although 126 countries ratified the treaty, child soldiers still are being used in 15 countries or territories, including some that have ratified the treaty.

An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children under the age of 18 are serving as soldiers for both rebel groups and government forces in armed conflicts.  According to Human Rights Watch, these include children in Burma, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), India, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda — countries whose governments signed the treaty but still use children in their armed forces or support armed groups that recruit children in their territories or neighboring states.

In the eastern DRC, according to Human Rights Watch, child soldier recruitment has increased dramatically since hostilities escalated in August 2008.  DRC children in the regions of Uvira and Gama collected more than 7,000 red handprints for this year’s effort to end what the International Labour Organization has called one of the “worst forms of child labor.”

YOUTH AIDING YOUTH

The Red Hand Day Campaign, an initiative of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, encourages young people to organize events to highlight the continued use of child soldiers.  Activities include marches, petition drives, special exhibitions, public awareness programs at schools and presentations of red hands to member of legislative bodies.

In California, for example, students asked city councils to adopt a resolution declaring February 12 Red Hand Day.  In Belgium, activists presented red hands to Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel De Gucht at a special event at the Palais des Académies in Brussels.

Among the goals of the campaign are:

• Universal ratification and enforcement of the U.N. optional protocol;
• Stronger U.N. action against governments and armed groups using child soldiers;
• Prosecution of military leaders who recruit or use child soldiers; and,
• Increased support for the rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers.

U.S. EFFORTS

The U.S. Department of Labor has invested more than $20 million for projects that specifically address child soldiers in Colombia, DRC, Liberia, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Uganda. It also funds an additional 14 projects to educate children and protect them from exploitation in countries recovering from armed conflict or in post-conflict situations.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has contributed more than $10 million over the past several years toward the demobilization and reintegration of child combatants into their communities.  In 2008, the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) funded two grants totaling nearly $1 million for child soldier programs in Burundi, focusing on girl child soldiers. The bureau expects to fund additional programs in other regions of the world.

In October 2008, then-President Bush signed into law the Child Soldiers Accountability Act, which makes it a federal crime knowingly to recruit or use soldiers under the age of 15.  The act permits the United States to prosecute any individual on U.S. soil for the offense, even if the children were recruited or served as soldiers outside the United States.

In December 2008, Bush also signed into law the Child Soldier Prevention Act, which prohibits U.S. military assistance to countries that use or recruit child soldiers.

See also “Programs Help Child Soldiers Return Home.”

See also individual country reports on human rights on the State Department Web site.